Football World Cup: Qatar's public art program is turning the country into an open-air museum

 The theory behind the Public Art program at Qatar Museums (QM) was established under the leadership of Sheikha Al Mayassabint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and is in line with QM's idea of being a cultural instigator. Qatar’s Public Art program is one of the broadest and bold in the world, turning Qatar into an open-air museum with over 100 paintings in and in the garden of the city. QM’s vast program of Public Art demonstrates its dedication to bringing art right to the people and increasing everyone’s artistic horizons.

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Public art is established to make active spaces in meaningful and straightforward aspects and to enrich the cultural landscape. The Public Art program in Qatar has enhanced due to Qatar Football World Cup, but it has always been a key emphasis within QM working with different stakeholders to bring art to the public. The present-day set speaks to various communities and demographics and reverberates with every person uniquely.

The first monumental international order took place with Richard Serra’s '7' sculpture in the Museum of Islamic Art’s Park and was revealed in 2011. IM Pei, the architect of the museum, had originally suggested Serra, and in 2014 East-West/West-East was revealed in Zikreet Brouq Nature Reserve. To take art outside four walls, this became the substance to deliberately getting and commission works from Subodh Gupta and Sarah Lucas in 2012 to Tony Smith in 2015 to a huge public art establishment at Hamad International Airport with over 15 works located in and around the airport.

In addition to the afresh opened site-specific art connections by Olafur Eliasson, Fattal, and Neto, the nation’s public seats in Qatar were being altered into a vast outdoor art museum knowledge with artworks by Jeff Koons, Ugo Rondinone, KAWS, Katharina Fritsch, Yayoi Kusama, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Suki Seok Yeong Kang, Shezad Dawood, Shilpa Gupta, Shua’a Ali, Shouq Al Mana, Faraj Daham, Monira Al Qadiri and among other international, Salman Al Malek, regional and Qatari visual artists. All these works were fixed before the start of the Football World Cup. Making art a part of daily life, Qatar became one of the first countries in the Gulf to create a complete contemporary public art program.

Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa Al Thani has been steering and shaping the Public Art program since its start. Through consultative panels, alliances with entities, and open calls, with the help of permanent and guest curators’ artworks and artists were chosen and found. There are various ways beyond which the works were chosen dependent on the perspective of the project or program. Curatorial Planning Section within the department unveils open calls every year, welcoming local artists to accept their proposals and urging students and early career artists to take part. Newly, Souq Al Mana and Shua’a Ali were Qatari artists chosen through the 5/6 Initiative Open Call.

STIR talked with Sarah Foryame Lawler, the Head of Curatorial Planning in the Public Art division at QM, where she oversees the local programs, open calls, and agencies across the country to improve community engagement and conversation. Frame Lawler observed that within QM, achievement can come in different habits: from a dialogue flashed, actuating a neighbourhood region, to the local community acceptance of the work, to a student constructing locally, to the work being used as intended like a playground or orchestra, to creating a terminus or landmark to even a partnership with an organization.

Frame Lawler’s key concern is public art and soft power, especially on how institutional ruling-making can have short and long-term sound effects on the local community’s commitment and public value of museums. Replying to a question whether she trusts that the public itself should be consulted or have a voice in the selection or the development of the works of art, she supposed, we are witnessing universal public art programs shifting more emphasis on public involvement finished partnerships, and even public voting, particularly programs that use public funding. Public Art is being put in 'prominent' public locations but then also in local neighbourhoods.

So, we must keep that in mind when doing with artists, stakeholders, and the community. At QM, Public Art is for the public first and important and we work with stakeholders who also have further emphasis such as enhancing spaces, or we work with statue artists who aim to create a landmark or commemorate a moment in history. Public art can have various functions and aims so as an organization we can simultaneously initiate dialogue and introduce other means of retrieving art, while also listening and discussing with the public. We want art to unite people and places and not to be confused.

On questioning how public art projects affect shifts in the fabric of a city or neighbourhood, for example, the newly unveiled The Modern Playground by Shezad Dawood. The playground illustrates various buildings from Doha such as the Sheraton or Post office set in a new park next to the National Theatre. What we see is that this new park is a new target for families with children. One more example is our Jedari art mural program. Worldwide Tickets and Hospitality offers Football World Cup tickets for the Qatar Football World Cup at the best prices. Football fanatics and buy Netherlands Vs USA Tickets at exclusively discounted prices.

Most newly we worked with Phool Patti from Pakistan and All India Permit from India to commemorate and revitalize the truck art form in a local neighbourhood district with a large population from South Asia. Residents could watch and connect with the artists for two weeks witnessing the artists change the cloth of their residential building. The artists spent time going to know the locals in the community and even combining new elements into the mural such as images and language to reflect the very people who lived there, Foryame Lawler describes.

One of the newly appointed public art installations, which has shaken up the press and the art public, was the work of Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, Shadows Wandering on the Sea of the Day. It investigates the role that our experience of the world plays in how we co-produce truth. The 20 circular sanctuaries, three single rings, and two double-up rings that make up this site-specific artwork seem at first glance to be strewn about the landscape at random. They are, however, situated permitting to the axes of a fivefold symmetrical pattern, with the 10 shelters at the centre creating a pentagram, or five-faced star.

The principles behind schedule such patterns were newly discovered by mathematicians in the West although they may have informed some of the sophisticated designs found in Islamic cultures since medieval times. The bottom of the circular roofs is clad with mirror panels so that the arched segment of pipe that supports the roof is doubled over into a full ring that links the real environments with the displayed space. Visitors standing in the shade of the roofs may feel a moment of confusion in seeing themselves and their habitats reflected advantage down in the roofs above. 

Concerning his artwork, Eliasson told, “I hope you will become exposed to the environs as you meander under the shady mirrors. Walking gradually without the defence of a fast-moving, air-conditioned vehicle you may be able to take in a scenery that is not barren and unfilled but comprises desert animals, floras, and human beings; stories, traditions, cultural objects; wind, glaring sunshine, thick air, shimmering heat; arcs rings; traces, tracks, curiosity, fatigue, and wonder. Shadows Traveling around on The Sea of the Day is a commemoration of all that is here; of all moving through the deep space at the time of your visit, of your existence within this natural cultural landscape. It is an invite to resync with the planet.”

STIR had a special concern in the behind-the-scenes process of design of the new installation Shadows Travelling on the Sea of the Day. Foryame Lawler clarified that it was highly cooperative due to the technical difficulty of the project and the location from technical aspects to the system process to even the preservation of the work. Olafur Eliasson and our Chairperson Her Excellence Sheikha Al Mayassa Al Thani spoke at a recent talk about how they had been in conversation for many years to create a public artwork for Qatar going back and forth on thoughts and ideas initially starting it all when H.E had seen Olafur’s waterfall fitting.

The plan was in the pipeline for many years from the initial plan stage. Once a location was taken, examination and technical studies began to ensure the art could survive the harsh climate of the desert mainly being made from steel, fibreglass, and chromium-silvered glass mirrors. The location itself is fascinating. Found in 1957, Al Jassasiya is Qatar’s most valuable petroglyph site, with the highest intensity of rock art in the country.

Although made hundreds of years apart, the rock art and Olafur Eliasson's artwork are linked in unexpected means: The rosettes and stars are circular agreements comprising between five and 13 cups. This structure and the artwork’s plan view arrangement share common geometric principles of multi-axial symmetry and circular patterns.”

Miss Croatia wears a revealing outfit at the Qatar Football World Cup game despite Qatar's dress code

Who has earlier been capped as Miss Croatia - posed for pics in an exposing red and white dress while at the Croatia vs. Canada match on Sunday, with her shoulders and knees fully visible. This is despite Qatar's strict approach to clothing, with the country's tourism page stating that both men and women are supposed to show respect for the local culture by avoiding overly revealing clothing in public. In a post on Instagram, Knoll showed the outfit she chose to wear to Croatia's game against Canada at the Khalifa International Stadium.

She'll have left the stadium in high spirits as well, with Croatia coming from behind to beat the Canadians 4-1 in a convincing win. This isn't the first time that Knoll has captured attention at the tournament. Last week, she attended Croatia's opening World Cup match against Morocco and made headlines for her Croatian flag-inspired dress. She also launched a brutal attack against the Qatari organizers, labelling the tournament as the worst organization in history.

In a post on social media, she stated: "This is a disaster! I feel sorry for all the people who can't go to the Football World Cup because of the worst organization in history”.

My entourage didn't get a Hayya card even after 20 days, even though they have all the tickets to the final. It's clear why so many people didn't even want to participate in this circus. She then angered people by posting a video in a skimpy outfit, with some people blaming her for being rude towards the local culture. Croatia's final group game is on Thursday. They take on Belgium at 3 pm at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium as both teams look to secure their place in the last 16 of the tournaments.

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